“Forgive me, but I didn’t peek at Ben’s chart before I came over. What exactly will I be getting out?”
Due to Gavin’s height and my position behind him, he’d mostly been blocking Ben. But as he moved around the oversize ottoman and took a seat beside his son on the sectional, I saw there was something definitely wrong.
Ben’s hands were covering his face, his eyes red and watery.
“There’s something lodged up his nose,” Gavin informed me.
My last client visit had been running a rehydration IV for a six-year-old with a severe case of the stomach flu. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be nearly as messy.
“Well, let’s get this thing out.” I drenched my hands in antibacterial gel and slipped on a pair of gloves before I knelt on the floor in front of Ben. “Do you remember me?” I smiled. “I’m Maya’s best friend. You taught me how to ice-skate.”
“Emily!” His hands stayed in place, his voice muffled as it came through his fingers. “The lady that loves strawberry cupcakes like I love vanilla ones!”
Not quite, but I wasn’t going to correct him. So I laughed and said, “Can I take a look at your nose?”
Slowly, he unmasked his face. The width of whatever was up his nose was widening his nostril as far as it would go.
Oh, Ben, what did you do?
I was sure Gavin’s big, beautiful living room had more lights than my entire apartment, but there were only a few lamps on, the soft glow not bright enough to show what was up his nose.
I found a flashlight in my bag and held it in front of Ben, making sure he was comfortable with each step I took. “I’m going to shine this up there”—I pointed at his nose—“and see what we’re dealing with.”
“No!” He re-covered his face. “It’s gonna hurt!”
“This is what happened when I tried to get it out earlier.” Gavin kissed the top of Ben’s head, and I completely melted, turning straight into the heart-eyed emoji. “Which then led to a total breakdown.”
I nodded. “I won’t hurt you, Ben.”
“Daddy said that and it hurted.” He glared at his dad.
“I’ll make a deal with you.” I held his knees. “If I hurt you, I’ll send you an entire box of vanilla cupcakes.” I paused. “How does that sound?”
Ben’s bright-blue eyes widened. “With extra icing? That’s swirled like an ice cream cone? Just like the ones we had at the arena that Uncle J got us?”
I squeezed his knees, knowing I’d won. “No, they’ll be even better than those because they’ll have triple the frosting.”
“Triple?”
“Yep.” I smiled. “I promise.”
“Deal.” His hands dropped.
My heart pounded as soon as I connected eyes with Gavin. “I’ll explain why I know vanilla is his favorite once I get whatever this is out of his nose.”
I tilted Ben’s head back and aimed the flashlight. Whatever was in there was about halfway up, wedged in horizontally, and whitish in color. It didn’t seem to have any edges, telling me it was probably round.
I dug through my bag until I found a pair of tweezers, and I showed them to Ben. “I’m going to need you to hold super still, okay?”
“Emily, that’s gonna hurt!”
“It’s not, you have to trust me.”
When he didn’t interject, I inserted the metal, and once I surrounded the object, I could tell it was plastic and there was absolutely no wiggle room. Ben, I assumed, had been playing around, and as he’d tried to pick it out, he actually jammed it higher. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t moving.
“Any idea what it might be?” Gavin inquired.
“Not a clue.”
